full points and i would. be splendid hotel in touch with the hotel in touch through the photo and how an international house. hotel. you want suspends libya from its human rights council following the government's aggression against protesters. as situation in libya continues there's a worry that we could see a repeat of the iraq war run up. shifting priorities says the unrest in the middle east and north africa is shaking the world america's foreign policy is changing course along with it. and the light sweet crude has broken the psychologically important one hundred dollars a barrel mark and we'll see more and we'll have more analysis in business.

as the soviet union's first and last president celebrates his eightieth birthday we'll look at his legacy as the man who put russia on the path towards democracy. coming to you live from our studios in moscow you're watching r.t. thanks for joining us now the u.s. is flexing its military muscle moving its naval forces closer to libya triggering speculation of possible strikes where the u.k. is not is also not ruling out the use of force and meanwhile the u.s. has suspended libya from its human rights council after the violent crackdown against protesters let's get more on the situation in the region from our teams are all for peter the international community certainly is convening on what's going on in libya but could just walk us through the situation on the ground right now.

right now what's happening is we are seeing the international community closing in on duffy we've heard from the human rights council that. they basically everybody who stood up had something to say about libya they shouted down the regime of colonel gadhafi however as a remains in libya colonel gadhafi is in power in tripoli alone it seems that is the way but he is launching attacks from there. we have seen it has been some attacks launched against opposition forces from tripoli and. the main opposition bases held in the east of the country in benghazi the. majority of the vast amount of global support has gone behind the fact that it. is time for gadhafi to go and this was reiterated time and time again

at the meeting of the u.n. humanitarian council in geneva and that council. you at that meeting the u.n. sorry the russian. envoy to nato said that they would not be any kind of. resolution without a u.n. resolution they would not be any form of nato conflicts in the area. as of today nato was an alliance won't take a decision to intervene into libya some european countries would in the block are against any military actions without an agreement from the u.n. security council if the u.s. and britain decide to intervene that will be a gross violation of all international laws this could be sanctioned only by the u.n.

i talked to the lines to secretary-general and i hope moscow's voice was heard. so we've just heard there from russia's envoy to nato in the meantime the u.s. is flexing its military muscle moving its naval forces closer to libya and triggering speculation of a possible strike sense as you mentioned the u.k. is also not ruling out the use of force and meanwhile the international storm is gathering over the libyan leader with the u.n. suspending that country from its human rights council where in that lower end it reports on whether key nato members are ready for a new war. we do not in any way the use of military assets we must not tolerate this regime using military force against its own people is this history repeating itself the british government getting the guns on standby as a country crumbles now into imposed a no fly zone in this case libya in two thousand and three it was iraq it's looking very dangerous it's looking quite possible that they will launch such an attack

with or without approval and so we're looking at almost a repeat of what happened in iraq. and the results are suspect are largely the same but not every country is getting that treatment and libya is not the only african nation in turmoil somalia has drawn out conflict has been called a slow genocide but there's little sign of us or european military inputs and it's a similar story on the other side of the continent there are events unfolding right now in ivory coast where there is also a conflict an armed conflict between rebels and the government but nobody seems to be thinking of it it's only because fashionable attention is focused on libya but also for the political implications of the middle east as a whole as we all know the west including my own country has got its hands very dirty with the libyan leadership over recent years. with black gold and libya has the largest proven oil reserves in africa at more than three percent of the global

toso and there could be a lot more undiscovered the only reason. your oil here anybody screaming and yelling about all those people they were killed in iraq every close. that much of a national priority put in somalia there was precious little help while the body count rose over the years except for one brief disastrous intervention involving u.s. soldiers immortalized in the moon. black hawk down american forces failed at great cost to stabilize the country quickly and haven't returned and the lessons were learned when it came to iraq which remains of the staple even now with only feeble sheets of that much vaunted democracy allied troops are equally down in afghanistan this new convincing timeline for withdrawal and an ever rising death toll could be

clear to an idiot. terrible disaster that was caused in iraq really shouldn't want any more countries in the middle east it's a model today's troubled african nations will post on their government which is still ruling. american occupation of iraq really. help. the middle east. and american and european government shouldn't look for backing of whom either to a million marched in london a video invasion of iraq in two thousand and three and times have changed this is now austerity britain where starting another war wasn't factored into the budget british troops fighting an unpopular war in afghanistan it's highly unlikely the public has the appetite for again getting involved in someone else's struggle battling as they are at home in the face of deep cuts in unemployment and it's

unlikely to be popular inside this building the ministry of defense has to slash spending by more than seven and a half billion dollars in the next four years it's an intervention britain would find hard to afford on many levels. carol turner and the war activist says that while the majority of libyans want to change they don't want to see it achieved by foreign intervention. i'm extremely worried the could be a foreign intervention led by the united states and britain i think it's very difficult for them but on the other hand if they feel that there's any opportunity of toppling and installing a progress to the regime or if on the other hand they think feel that oil will in fact and over here interests are in some way threatened then i think health summit leave they won't hold back and particularly concerns about the no fly zone policy that spain discuss the comparison would be what happens in iraq in the ninety ninth

his at the end of the gulf war of ninety nine he won the united states and britain on a stop list a no fly zone the net result was that hundreds of thousands of iraqis were killed the infrastructure of the country was wrong see net result of a no fly zone was not to prevent splits to cause a humanitarian crisis and it doesn't take a great leap of imagination to see the sort of situation unfolding the population across the region has made pretty clear in my opinion that although it wants to change regimes it doesn't want foreign intervention you don't need a degree in politics to work that out some to understand what's being said of course it doesn't want america and britain back in. well we will have more on the developing situation in the arab world shortly but first let's have

a quick look ahead on what else we have for you this hour are pioneering new lifesaving surgery but find out how they are helping to keep the takers taking in a few minutes. and all the situation in north africa and the middle east is rapidly changing so was america's foreign policy where its future course talked the agenda for u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton as she met with the foreign affairs committee on capitol hill archies christine for south looks at the changing tides of washington's priorities. growth. afghanistan iraq egypt. libya. when it comes to u.s. foreign policy this country's hands are not just full they're often tied secretary of state hillary clinton charged with the task of laying out a plan for the future generations of americans including my own have grown up

successful and safe because we chose to lead the world in tackling the greatest challenges but now clear signs that the challenges and the times are changing a lot of people in this country have come to the conclusion that our policy overhaul has been inconsistent that sometimes we support the bad guys and the bad guys become our enemies. twenty eleven has been a major year with major shifts in prominence and power in northern africa and the middle east. and signs that us will influence maybe waning just days before the regime of egyptian president hosni mubarak fell both secretary clinton and cia director leon panetta called it stable until it was. there are also inconsistency is on the war in afghanistan in afghanistan integrated military and civilian surges have helped set the stage for our diplomatic surge to

support afghan led reconciliation that could end the conflict and put al qaeda on the run but robert one kansas senior u.n. official just said quote it is fair to say that security in the country is at its lowest point since the departure of the taliban even secretary of defense robert gates said this just last week to a group of cadets at west point in my opinion any futures defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big american land army into asia. or into the middle east or africa should have his head examined as general macarthur so delicately put it and there is also the matter of money u.s. own economy weak and losing loveridge to other powers like china and brazil another frustration voiced by lawmakers doesn't make any sense at all for us to be borrowing money from china and give it to other countries especially giving it

back to china. now when it comes to iran there is a clear position given by the state department the denial of human dignity in iran is an outrage that deserves the condemnation of all who speak out for freedom and justice but in many other regions like behind rain albania and most prominently iraq were many many more people are killed at the hands of u.s. allied governments the silence is deafening. and as the landscape changes daily in libya cracks in the foundation here grow deeper we must maintain firm ties with our allies and enemies must be clearly identified it is a constantly changing position on good versus evil and increasingly diminishing power to influence what's next in washington christine for is now r.t. . jacob hornberger from the future freedom foundation believes a us government should stop meddling into other countries' affairs. just classic

u.s. foreign policy they they shift with the tides they support these dictatorships they have supported them for decades and then all of a sudden the winds start shifting people start getting angry an outraged over the brutality the tyranny the torture and so the tide shift for the us government as well so they're either supporting the dictators there oust them instead of really what they should be doing is just leave the world alone national security is one of those meaningless terms of they ever came up with it it's just an ad hoc subjective determination to justify whatever they want to do including the multi decade support of pows newbery the dictator of egypt plus the dictators in tunisia yemen. and all over that region as well as in latin america in other parts of the world and i think americans need to be doing is start reflecting on what is the role of

our government in all this you know in creating the the anger and hate it is that is engender the terrorist threat to the excuse to take away our freedoms we need to be doing some soul searching over here just like people over there are doing are doing soul searching. at the end of the cold war the reunification of germany liberalism and better story the u.s.s.r. president gorbachev today celebrates his eightieth birthday and this like to see has him hailed as the father of russia's democracy gorbachev was born in a small village in the south of the country and became leader of the u.s.s.r. in nineteen eighty five with this economic and political reforms he paved the way for democracy and russia is best known reformist that a strike out which aimed to rebuff the country without destroying the basis of socialism or his initiatives also led to the a polish myth of state censorship and the creation of free speech and the country received the nobel peace prize and

lights ninety a year later whoever he was removed from power. which saw the collapse of the soviet union and then boris yeltsin president male gorbachev still says his reforms were timely and necessary. chris we realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer that we have to take a risk because we couldn't postpone it we needed changes i don't agree when people say that perestroika failed it didn't fail it was disrupted railed stocks but still perestroika achieved a lot inside russia we had democracy free elections freedom of conscience private property freedom to travel abroad everything also glasnost there was so much openness the entire country was affected people realized they had finally got some freedom an opportunity to act in foreign affairs we put an end to the cold war we normalized our relationship with the u.s.

we reunited germany we didn't send our tanks our troops there all our units in eastern europe stayed where they were it wasn't always easy and many things did not work out the way we planned at the beginning and when we made our first mistakes we didn't really explain to people what was going on and didn't get them involved in all those processes we were self-confident and war but in public politics i don't think we have ever lost a major battle nuclear arsenals were significantly reduced thanks to our efforts during perestroika today when the world is so divided we need to find things that bring us together for instance the g. twenty is a step which brings us closer it's an instrument and a mechanism for handling the hardest and most challenging issues but we need more than that it's a matter of learning to live in a global world. where you can watch the full interview with. fifteen minutes time here on artsy. also throughout the day you can watch

our debate show cross-talk peter lavelle and his guests discuss who else is counted among the forebears of liberalism in russia and what are considered among gorbachev's main achievements. free of the countries of eastern and central europe actually done where they go from here is up to them he wants to go down in history as the father of russian democracy in the west we attribute it to yeltsin but that's not true now if. democracy flourishes in russia one day and stabilizes russia will go to which often go down as the greatest reformer in russian history if democracy falters and fails in russia he'll go down in history as another tragic russian reformer he knows that and that's why his blood pressure about what's going on in russia is rising on a genius first if he is here is that maybe some people attribute democracy to one leader or another but most russians don't attribute democracy to either yeltsin or

got a bunch of go ahead. i would just like to make one point. about children i think to be responsible for peaceful disintegration of the soviet union and i think this is a very important point especially when we see what's happening in the middle east so i would be my first and secondly i would argue that russian democracy is proceeding on course. cross-talk is on in just over an hour here on our t.v. and now let's have a quick look at some other international headlines but the sides minister for religious minorities has been killed in a gun attack in the country's capital shahbaz bhatti who was a christian had been threatened by islamist militants in the past for speaking out against the country's harsh blasphemy laws earlier in the hear a pin drop governor was gunned down by one of his bodyguards for his opposition to the laws. colombia has been removed from

a list of countries requiring special observation by the un's drug control watchdog the international narcotics board say the move was invented mention of the country's achievements in fighting the problem but continue to monitor developments closely the un's two thousand and ten report showed that drastic reduction in cocoa plantations in colombia and that more drugs were scenes there than any other state in the world over the past decade. federal authorities in the u.s. so charged. a former goldman sachs director with insider trading this experience and exchange commission says rajat abused his position by passing on confidential information including a five billion dollar deal to a company he owned shares it with a regulator screener group as illegal activity from late two thousand and eight to early two thousand and nine and that's a big company hedge funds eighteen million dollars. for some a change of heart is their only hope for life but

a lack of donors in russia means the odds of survival are firmly stacked against him and now a pioneering new technique being use of a country could reverse that trend our physics on a boy has a story it's a small that comes straight from the heart almost died from heart failure two decades ago but these only visits to cardiology ward for regular check your liver. look at her she's just a picture of health i know she's been living with a new hand longer than with a room. up to the miscarriage operated on natasha twenty one years ago but a donor organ was her only hope for alive one of the best known cardiac surgeons in russia he performed hundreds of lifesaving transplants but still thinks of the thousands he couldn't do because of the shortage of filner organs nowadays he's pioneering any technique that gives some patients on the alice waiting list

a more definite hope. a heart transplant is not a panacea firstly the supply of donor organs is so short that you can only hope a smattering of patients secondly it brings with it a number of complications starting with ethical dilemmas to biological functions that's why finding an alternative treatment that will allow to preserve a host organ is so crucial. the treatment brockport remodeling consists of seven surgeries that together reverse the damage to a broken heart russian doctor started performing it two years ago and its long term effectiveness is still being tested it for some like these patients not steer it already proved a real life changer here buddy where was first diagnosed doctor saw me i had a year to leave now i have all the reasons to hope that i'll see my little daughter grow up i was told that i may steal your heart transplant in the future but this surgery was there before years of. just age is serious your risk carried out this

procedure is far from being read see and hear this excess full recovery of patients has already given to many on the transplant waiting list a change of heart reconstructions to julie has many advantages or heart transplant patients don't have changer and i've been on this ng and far from guaranteed a brief or do one or the chances of successful recovery a higher but like heart transplant this procedure has one major setback the gap between those who need it and those who get it is too disheartening to huge. team whole school. all you can always find plenty of stories to explore in our website that's our t. dot com and clearly a harsh lesson in economics a massive budget shortfall of one u.s. city also government brightening to way our local to new careers. and treating the strong loss of the law to cogs and kisses

a group of russian performance artists attempt to reform what they call the gloomy reputation of the girls in blue five out of their successful online at r.t.e. dot com. now it's time for the business update with yulia. hello and a very well welcome to the business update or oil prices continue to climb to their highest levels in more than two years as the tension in north africa and the middle east fuels concerns over current supplies the price of light sweet has a really passed the psychological one hundred dollars per barrel mark brand plant

has risen to almost one hundred sixteen dollars a barrel let's have a look at those figures this comes after the news that saudi arabia may not take any significant steps to bring down the price of crude oil until branch reaches one hundred twenty dollars a barrel which is a half about eight percent above current levels. and russian oil giant look well as plotting to maintain its foreign oil production and turn to eleven million tons this year the company is international look all overseas will also invest two and a half billion dollars into its extraction projects outside russia in twenty alone that's according to the divisions president he also said the company is still interested in middle eastern deposits despite political instability in the region it plans to start drilling in iraq in the first half of this year. russia norway are stepping up corporation after the two sides finally came onto agreement over

the arc to dispute the new stage of economic relations between the two countries started last year was rattling or we ended a forty year debate over their maritime borders and agreed to explore oil and gas in the arctic region the region minister trade and industry serves their strategic know how and expertise can greatly help future cooperation in the energy sector. we have. strong companies of course and movies from biggest. companies. supplier. knowledge of all kinds of those services and goods for those secure and i think also we have security and environmental standards and procedures and that will be really important in the arctic area where the consequence is. accidents can be even more severe in other areas. let's have

a look at the stocks knowledge. forest just not the three day winning streak pushed down by the rising what prices will hurt the global economic recovery is down almost two and a half percent at the moment and pecks saying is losing as well but airline agitprop which is stocks leading the fall. here in russia the r.t.s. has opened into red as the fears of unrest in oil producing countries continue to affect invest just this surging oil russian energy sector may see a day again with gold companies are expected to meet significant gains as price for precious metal gets higher we'll have a look at those figures as the stock exchange opens in a few moments. there's a little more concern not. just in africa first although it's a big question what will happen with iran because. if something like this will happen in the run will be a major blow to the world oil markets but none commute some comments really positive for the american pows so for good do not want to squeeze. through the same

time you see somebody for the economy or something deeper from the from europe that unemployment you will go in a little older with a little higher inflation that you would have stuck to. and the price of gold has hit a new record high as investors worry that political turmoil may spread across the middle east it has jumped on the london going market by more than dollars to one thousand four hundred one gold is traditionally seen as i have been for investors in times of concessions. that wraps up the business bulletin joe and there's less than one us time for more business news than to get lost or a small website archly dot com slash business.

to spain to the old country and republic. center of russian defense production. now while she heads to central russia. because of some become an industry. the harsh winter makes schools even more enjoyable. and where everyone can train to be a stomach and. the other small. russia close up on the hot seat.